


dream a little dream of me

by eg1701



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alec Lightwood Deserves Nice Things, Crushes, Fluff, M/M, mentions of 3x01
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-21
Updated: 2018-03-21
Packaged: 2019-04-05 16:14:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14048040
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eg1701/pseuds/eg1701
Summary: Alec didn't come across as the type to dream up a crush, but he absolutely was.





	dream a little dream of me

**Author's Note:**

> can you believe the words, "i always dreamed of meeting someone like you" came out of Alec's mouth bc i can't and i will never be over it and this fic is inspired by that one line

Alec would never in a million years admit to his sister that yes, he did have a boy of his dreams.  


It had been an offhand comment she’d made in an attempt to cheer him up about Jace. While the way she’d fluttered her eyelashes, and clapped her hands together like some fairy tale princess in a mundane film did make him chuckle, he ignored the question. She took it was a no. It was not a no.  


Of course he dreamed of meeting some boy- usually the boy had blonde hair, but Alec was pretty sure that was because of Jace- but he seemed to not have any real distinguished physical characteristics.  


When he was feeling particularly down, Alec thought this was because the boy existed solely in his dreams. That only made him feel worse, so he tried not to think about dream boy at all. He might as well focus on Jace, because at least Jace existed in real life.  


It didn’t work.  


Dream boy had a few defining characteristics. Besides being more of an idea than an actual person, he listened to what Alec had to say and seemed to genuinely care about his opinions. Most of the time, at the Institute, Alec’s opinions weren’t listened to. His parents were older, and therefore (presumably) wiser. Jace was the golden boy who for some reason, despite his serious lack of respect for the rules, seemed to always be able to get someone to do what he liked.  


Dream boy also fit in perfectly with his family. His parents loved him, invited him to dinner, talked through missions with him. His siblings accepted this boy as Alec’s, and got along with him perfectly, and it was good. It was so good, and it was also unrealistic.  


Alec followed every rule, and dream boy knew that. He knew Alec’s ambitions- the one’s he told no one besides the mirror on his bathroom- and he wanted Alec to achieve them. No, he knew Alec could.  


Of course Alec knew that even if, by some miracle, dream boy existed, he and Alec couldn’t be together. Alec cared about being the Head of the Institute, and he couldn’t have both. He had worked far too hard, for far too long to give that up for someone who most likely was a fantasy, and who his parents might disown him over.  


Dream boy became more of an idea than a person at some point around his very early 20s. He couldn’t exactly pinpoint the moment when he stopped talking to an imaginary person about his problems, and buried that part of his childhood away, but at some point, he focused solely on his job. He wasn’t a child anymore and dream crushes were something a child did.  


Jace never asked Alec about his crushes. Alec had made up a girl once when his siblings were being far too nosy, but Jessica was a name and a name only. He didn’t talk crushed or romance with anyone. It was too difficult to hear Izzy talk about the Shadowhunter boys she could bring home, and the Downworlders she saw on the sly. Jace talked about the girls in the Mundane clubs he sometimes snuck out to go to.  


Sure, Alec could keep up his Jessica charade, but at some point that would grow tiresome- or someone would call his bluff and he knew he’d crumble if they did- so it was much easier to ignore romance as a whole. He’d marry a good Shadowhunter girl with a good Shadowhunter last name, and the boy he’d conjured up in his lonely teenage years would cease to exist all together.  


It was a shame- or perhaps a blessing- that Magnus Bane was not someone who would go away easily.  


Alec had never considered that dream boy could be a Downworlder. He wasn’t sure why, but he supposed it was because on the list of things his parents would accept, Downworlder would be at the absolute bottom of the list. Even in his dreams, Alec knew there was only so much he could imagine.  


Alec resisted. Of course he did. He’d been told one thing, he’d thought one thing, and he’d been one thing his entire life, he couldn't change that quickly. But when the man of your dreams crashes your wedding, what else are you supposed to do but kiss him? Who cares what your mother will say? Who cares if the Clave strips you of everything but your runes? Because in that moment, nothing else matters.  


(As it turns out, dream boy and Magnus both wanted Alec to succeed. It was a strange feeling at first, to be so unconditionally supported in his endeavors.)  


Alec’s life had been completely turned upside down. His parents had reacted poorly, but not nearly as poorly as he had suspected- he’d had nightmares of his parents dragging him to Idris and throwing him before the Clave to let them deal with him how they saw fit. And eventually, his mother had come around as much as Maryse Lightwood would come around, and he learned he couldn’t care less what his father thought.  


For a while, his work to make his way up was sidetracked by one Victor Aldertree. There was no way this man would recommend Alec for a promotion, even if there was not one more Shadowhunter in the entire city of New York. Alec was sure that his life was returning to his usual ways, just with Magnus.  


But suddenly Magnus had told Alec he loved him and Jace had put the position of head at his feet and no one came out of the woodwork to rip it from him. He picked it up, put it on and felt for the first time that all of his work was not for nothing.  


He was cautious of course. There was still a voice in his head telling him that there was no way he could have Magnus and this job.  


But even when Alec made a mistake- one he was sure would end whatever he and Magnus had going- it worked out in the end. They always found their way back to each other after all.  


Things weren’t perfect. Jace was lying to him. He could tell Jace and Clary were lying to him about what had happened at Lake Lyn, and Magnus had his title stripped away, and was anything but elated about it and it hurt Alec to know that something Magnus cared about what taken away. He wasn’t entirely sure how warlocks went about taking and giving titles, but Alec had a few choice words (and maybe a fist if dimpolmacy didn’t work) for whatever or whoever it was that did it.  


But they’d be alright.  


He’d be alright too. Because it was true, Alec had always dreamed of meeting someone like Magnus and it seemed like his dreams were all coming true.


End file.
